Haiti Rapid Response
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately 25 km (16 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.
By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater had been recorded. An estimated three million people were affected by the quake; the Haitian government reported that an estimated 316,000 people had died, 300,000 had been injured and 1,000,000 made homeless. The death toll has also been suggested to be much lower at somewhere between 92,000 and 220,000, with around 1.5 million to 1.8 million homeless. The government of Haiti also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged. (source Wikipedia)
What we learned from this event is that a few days before the strong earthquake arrived, the Satellite System recorded a series of lower magnitude earthquakes a few kilometers aways in the Dominican Republic. Was it possible to predict this Earthquake? Maybe it was appropiate to send a warning to the government about a possible earthquake... How much information do we really need to gather to prove that an extreme event might happen and still don't create a false alarm or chaos in the population?
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